I managed to get quite a few things approved by the municipal council this past week. They approved starting a recycling program, buying lunch for dentists who were coming, starting a farmers market and buying me paintbrushes. The secretary started half joking about how they only say yes to me and how I was going to bankrupt the town hall. I don’t believe it will be I who bankrupts this town…..
That brings on the rest of the week.
On Monday, the artisans decided to sell tomales (a food made of corn that tastes just like corn) as a fundraiser. There are a few of them that are really putting the effort in and they just happen to drag the rest along – it’s great!
Thursday was the eye campaign and an overall bad day. It started with a NGO trying to drive below a canopy forgetting that they had poles in the back of their pick-up….two holes and a bent pole later – they remembered. The reason this was my problem was due to the fact that the canopies were on lend to me. Thankfully, they had everything fixed on the same day – but you know it is never as good as the originally….you can see where the patches are. Explaining to Ayuda en Accion (the canopies’ owner) what had happed wasn’t exactly a high point.
The eye campaign itself was smaller then I wanted and not the type I wanted. I originally scheduled a larger one – one that would include glasses for distance and more thorough eye exam, but then they scheduled a meeting for that day as well – thus almost canceling it completely. They came and just checked to see if people needed reading glasses.
Later that day, Gustavo called me and told me he had to delay the training on Friday. Now, Friday is when I scheduled to do a fuel-efficient stove training for volunteers. I originally set this date and time with him at the beginning of the month – but apparently he went and scheduled a doctors appointment for that time anyway. This knocked a few people out of the training right off the bat…or so I thought.
Friday comes around and I start running around getting things together for the training. It was complicated by the fact that there was a parade going on….to mark the closing of Civic Month. By 11 am only two people had showed up – but, we started anyway.
The first training was the construction of the known type of fuel-efficient stove, aka the rocket stove. That lasted till 12:30ish – by which time a whole lot more people had showed up for the second training. People who told me the day before they couldn’t make it had their schedules clear and they showed up.
So, we all went to lunch and waited for the guy who was doing the training to show up. Instead of at 1, he showed at 2 – but that wasn’t that bad. We killed the time by checking out my artisan shops and one Jefa (boss) bought a few things…my artisans were pleased.
Anyway, the second stove training was alright. The guy giving it is poor with his communication skills. He was like – so you have the dirt and sawdust, right? – and I went – no, cause you never told me that’s what we needed. He’s done this to me several times, but I think it is due to the fact that he insists on speaking in English, yet doesn’t understand everything I say. That wouldn’t be bad, but he doesn’t tell me when he doesn’t understand, so he just fills in the gaps?
Continuing, the stove is made of compacted dirt, sawdust, water and, if so desired, a little bit of cement. It is formed with the help of a special mold. All the volunteers who saw it were a little skeptical, but we’ll see. I’m going to wait till it is done drying and then put it to the test. But for now – all’s I can say is that it smells pretty badly.
After the training, I was my little cute self and offered a refrijerio (snack) of cupcakes and orange juice before kicking everyone out. Well…all but three – they stayed the night. It was a nice afternoon/evening of making banana muffins, eating cookies, drinking a large bottle of wine and chitchatting. It was with volunteers I know and love – so it was good.
The next morning we slowly got together while a few other volunteers arrived to go on a hike. The slowness consisted of drinking tea while eating banana muffins and pancakes. We eventually got it all together and headed out.
The group decided to hike it out to the far waterfalls. Side note – I have two waterfalls, one that is about a half an hour walk away and the other about a hour and a half walk… depending on how you go.
I didn’t find the path….so we walked up the river and arrived after about a total of 2 hours. It wasn’t a bad walk, we just walked it in the river so it was a little tiring… but well worth it. Since it’s the rainy season, there were actually two large waterfalls flowing instead of one. It’s a little hard to explain, but they are both extremely tall and is only about a 10 min walk between them. Though, one has clean water and the other water is brown as hell.
We set up base camp between them and got the bbq going. We did it old school – set some rocks up to form a small area in which to put the coals. I had brought out two grill tops. We feasted on mesquite chicken, veggie shish kabobs, and potatoes – it was excellent. It would’ve been more excellent had I remembered to bring out stuff to eat on…but that is highly overrated.
On our way back, we actually found the path and made it back to the house in a little over an hour. For anyone who wants to go to the far waterfalls down here and actually use the path….search for the water polls. The path follows the water system down here – makes sense, how else would they have constructed it? So, when it crosses the river, we crossed the river. It was amazing.
We did stop by the other waterfall on the way back – just so they could say they had seen them all.
Some people left straight from the hike, but five decided to stay the night. We didn’t quite drink as much or stay up as late – but it was still a very good evening of good banter and good people.
The next morning, I got up early to go sush my neighbors and the Baptist Church across the street – both like to play really loud music at really early hours. Plus, I know them both so it wasn’t taken as hostile. I then picked up some flour and stared to make bagels. That’s right, I made delicious bagels…they kicked ass. In fact, nobody left until they got to eat some.
I believe it was around 11 a.m. that I was able to reclaim the house – but then the cleaning began. I didn’t even bother to start washing sheets (‘cause there were about 6 pairs that needed cleaning) – I just called my muchacha. That is just way too much for me to even consider washing. I think it will take me at least another few days to get the house back right, but it was all worth it.
Overall, I’m pretty please with how it all went down. And now it is time for me to go crash in my hammock!
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